Ranch & Land Services in Gillespie County

The Ground Here

Gillespie is the biggest ranch county we work, and the numbers are not close. USDA counts 2,021 farms here, 548,817 acres of land in farms and 426,269 acres of pasture — more than any neighbouring county — carrying 31,872 cattle alongside 16,305 goats and 18,453 sheep.

That mix matters more than the headline acreage. Goats and sheep graze differently from cattle and they need water in more places, which is why stock tanks here tend to come in numbers rather than as one big tank near the house.

The ground is Edwards Plateau limestone with granite pushing through as you move toward the Llano uplift. Thin soil, rock close underneath, and creeks that run hard after a storm and are dry a week later. Water has to be caught and held deliberately here; it will not sit around on its own.

123 holdings in this county run to 1,000 acres or more. At that size internal access stops being a convenience and starts deciding whether a place can be worked at all.

What that means for the work

• Stock tanks sited where the stock actually water, not where digging is easiest
• Sealed cores, because limestone will take whatever water you put on it
• Internal ranch roads on holdings too large to cross without them
• Cedar cleared with a plan for what grows back
• Dams repaired on tanks that have silted up or started to seep

Where we work in Gillespie County

Fredericksburg, Harper, Stonewall, Doss, Willow City, Luckenbach and Cherry Spring.

If your property is in Gillespie County and you are not sure which of these applies to it, that is what a site visit is for. We will walk it with you and tell you what the ground is actually going to allow.